Ethnic Conflict

Ethnic Conflict, disputes between groups of people defined by a common heritage, language, and/or culture. The members of particular competing groups may not necessarily live within the same territorial borders. Ethnic conflict overlaps with national conflict, as both are based on claims for special recognition, through secession (the attempt of a region within a state, usually inhabited by a minority, to separate and become an independent state, or less frequently, to unify or federate with another state); irredentism (the historical claim made by one sovereign state to land and/or people outside that state’s internationally recognized boundaries); special autonomous status within a state; or even for some form of non-territorial recognition of that group’s rights (to teach its language in schools, for example). The independent countries in the world have been estimated to include over 8,000 distinct ethnic cultures (defined linguistically), which explains why these conflicts are so pervasive, particularly because self-determination is a cornerstone of the founding charter of the UN.

A variety of factors can cause ethnic conflict. Relevant economic differences may range from a surplus of wealth controlled by a group, as in Catalonia (Spain) or Katanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo), to a dearth of wealth, as with the Karen (Myanmar) or the Bengalis (Bangladesh). A belief in past wrongs or genocide committed, whether real or imagined, may be significant: Rwanda’s Hutus or Serbs in the former Yugoslavia both claim they were “victims”. Political exclusion or non-recognition of special status, as for Chechens in Russia or Eritreans in Ethiopia, may also feature. Alternatively, ethnic conflict may be launched to protect a culture from extinction, as with the Native Americans in the United States and Canada. Ethnic conflicts can be aggravated by ambitious political leaders, as Slobodan Milošević did by exploiting historic Serb grievances that eventually led to the disintegration of the state itself. Once these passions are unleashed, it is difficult to stop their spread.

Ethnic conflicts can be found in all types of states: from entrenched democracies (for example, Canada or Spain), or emerging democracies (for example, Turkey, Russia, or South Africa), to non-democratic states (in Nigeria, China, or Iraq). These conflicts can be successfully managed through granting greater autonomy to particular groups, as Finland has with its Swedish-speaking minority living in Ahvenanmaa (Åland Islands), or through peaceful negotiations for independence between ethnic regions, although this rarely occurs, as when Norway separated from Sweden in 1905, Iceland separated from Denmark in 1944, and Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Conversely, the formation of new states can actually cause ethnic conflict; for instance, when a colonial power withdraws from a region leaving powerful ethnic rivalries unaddressed, as happened when the British Empire withdrew from the Indian subcontinent.

Ethnic conflicts are dangerous because they cause massive humanitarian suffering (for instance, in Rwanda) and civil wars (for example, the Biafra War), create large numbers of refugees (for instance, in the former Yugoslavia), and have the potential to destabilize neighbouring states (as in the Balkans, the Caucasus, East and Central Africa, and West Africa). They can also be far harder to manage than conventional conflicts between states, because the forces driving them are social or cultural rather than political, and hence far less amenable to political solutions. In addition, they interfere with international trade.